Jeremiah 31. Angela and I once had the chance to go to the top of one of the largest mountains in the Italian Alps and I’ll never forget summiting the mountain which was above the clouds so as you looked out in every direction, all you could see were the peaks of the other large mountains in the range shooting up out of the clouds. If each peak represented parts of the Bible that stood above the rest in terms of its importance in redemption history, you would see the peak of the resurrection, the peak of Jesus’ return, Romans 8 for sure, and the peak of this passage where we are about the New Covenant that God is bringing his people. 

But as important as this is, it’s also one of the lesser understood concepts in Scripture. We hear about the covenants and we can think about neighborhood covenants or condo covenants that tell us what we can and can’t do to our houses. What kind of parties we can have and how we should decorate our yards. If you’re a developer, covenants tell you what kinds of buildings you can build. Some of you have signed a non-compete covenant with your job limiting what you can do in a potential new similar job. 

The way the Bible talks about covenants is different though and impacts the very core of our faith. It helps us understand how the Old Testament and the New Testament fit together. It informs who is in the church, how we mark those who are in, and the very way to salvation. I cannot overstate how important it is that we understand what this passage is saying about God’s plan for his people. 

For what it’s worth, this passage is the main reason that I didn’t remain Presbyterian, as much as I really wanted to. I’ll also say that the nature of this passage is going to cause us to have to think more than in most of my sermons. Some of you are going to like that and some of you are going to graciously endure that and I thank you in a advance. 

So, I think the easiest way to walk through this is to see 1) The problem in the Old Covenant and 2) The promise of the New Covenant. 

1. The Problem in the Old Covenant

To answer this, we have to first get a clear understanding of how the Bible uses the word covenant. When we think about the word covenant today we basically use it interchangeably with the word contract. A contract is where we agree to a deal based on the terms of the deal. Some of you have entered into deals with truly shady people, but because you had good lawyers nailing down the terms of the deal, you go ahead with it. When you buy a house, you rarely look at the character of the person selling the house, you look at the details of the agreement. That’s a contract. 

A covenant is a little different. A covenant is like a subset of a type of contract. I don’t want to say, like many people do, that it is a totally different thing than a contract, but it is a different type of contract. A covenant isn’t based on the terms of the deal as much as it is based on faithfulness to the person or relationship. Just think about the vows in a wedding. A Christian marriage is a covenant relationship. So, in a wedding, you don’t vow to remain in it as long as the bride will agree to the vacations you want, provide a certain number of children, and not argue with you in public. You don’t vow to remain in it as long as the groom continues to go to the gym, makes a certain amount of money, and takes the trash out when he’s supposed to. That would be a relationship based on the terms. Instead, you vow to remain faithful through poverty or wealth, sickness or health, until death. That’s a relationship not based on terms, but on the person. But, having said that, there are things you can do that are so unfaithful to the covenant relationship that it does break. Do you see the difference? 

When I say Old Covenant, I’m talking about the relationship between God and his people from Adam up until the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Old Covenant basically said this: I have created you to be my people so remain faithful to these terms and you will flourish and remain my people. We have multiple times where God makes covenants with his people in the Old Testament, but each time, it’s basically saying the same thing. God says to Adam and Eve, you are my people, remain faithful to these terms and you will flourish and remain my people. God says to Noah, you are my people, remain faithful to these terms and you will flourish and remain my people. God says to Abraham, you are my people, remain faithful to these terms and you will flourish and remain my people. God says to Moses, you are my people, remain faithful to these terms and you will flourish and remain my people. God says the same thing again to David. And certainly, each story has its own nuances, and different terms are used in some places. But the basic concept is the same: God chooses a people, calls them and their descendants to walk before him and be blameless, and promises to bless them in return. God is republishing the same covenant design over and over to his people and in so doing, letting them know more about his character . 

The problem is that the people didn’t remain faithful to God and his covenant. Adam and Eve were told not to eat of the fruit of the tree. But they did, so they were exiled from the garden and then wickedness prevailed to the point where God flooded the entire earth and then restated his covenant with Noah. He saved Noah from the flood, restated the cultural mandate he had given to Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, but now because of the fall, physical descendants won’t also be spiritual descendants. 

And what’s the first thing that Noah and his sons did though after the flood? They sinned against God. Fast forward to Abraham. God restated his covenant relationship to Abraham and added that through Abraham (an old childless man) the nations would be blessed. God essentially restored the cultural mandate again by promising offspring more numerous than the stars and the sand who would bless the whole earth. Those are the people who we would eventually call the Israelites and those offspring did not bless the nations and ended up in slavery in Egypt. Fast forward to Moses. God saves the Israelites from Egypt in dramatic fashion and on Mt. Sinai restated his covenant again through Moses and gave Moses the law. So now we have a more fully fleshed out version of the original covenant that reveals even more about who God is. The law reflects the very character of God and states the blessings for flourishing if they obey the law and the curses if they do not. But again and again the people do not remain faithful to the law given to them. 

Fast forward through hundreds of years of the peoples continued unfaithfulness and we come to the prophet Hosea and God tells the Israelites who were supposed to be God’s people that they are now “not my people.” God has removed his presence from the temple in Jerusalem and now removed the people as well. They are in exile in Babylon. And here is where we are in Jeremiah 31. 

Some people look at the Old Testament and just talk about how impatient and wrathful God is. But, look at how long God endured his unfaithful people. How many different times he could have cut them off, but remains patient. And even when he does finally destroy Jerusalem, it is for ongoing unrepentance. Not just because they sinned, because they didn't come back to Him. 

Then, there are others who read the Old Testament and get to Jeremiah and say, “Wait! Are you saying God rejected his own people? That sounds harsh!” God rejected those who rejected him. He didn’t reject his own people, his own people rejected him and became ‘Not my people.’ 

And here we get to the heart of the problem in the Old Covenant. The heart of the problem is that the Old Covenant can’t fix our heart. The laws of the Old Covenant instruct what the heart SHOULD do and feel, but it does not provide a solution for the fact that our hearts don’t feel and act how they should. While it cared about the heart, it ultimately couldn’t change the heart. 

So, let’s go back to my example of marriage as a covenant. In extreme cases of unfaithfulness, that covenant can be broken. And marital language is exactly what God uses in Ezekiel 16. Warning that this is shocking marital language if you’re not familiar with Ezekiel. 30 “How sick is your heart,7 declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street,and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, ubecause you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, vbut you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. 34 So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and vyou gave payment,while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different. - Ez 16

Yes, that’s in the Bible. The unfaithfulness God is depicting is worse than any marriage I have ever seen. And I have seen some epicaly bad marriages. The problem is our sick hearts. It wasn’t that the Old Covenant was bad, it’s that the Old Covenant was not strong enough for the sick hearts of man. The Old Covenant does reflect the character of God to his people, but in a way that simply highlights their sin. It isn’t that the law was unconcerned with our hearts, it’s that it provided no solution for our evil hearts. Yes, the law shows us how they could flourish in every way if they would obey, but when they don’t obey it shows them how far they are from the mark. Dr. Cole at RTS says that the law can almost squeeze more sin out of you. Because our natural disposition is to find loopholes, we keep finding out how deep the rot goes down. This is why Paul says he would not have known what coveting was had it not been for the law. The law makes us see how unholy we are and how holy God is.

In Hebrews eight, the author of Hebrews says, For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. - Heb 8:7 and then the author quotes our passage. He actually quotes the Greek version of the Old Testament and tells us the main problem, For they did not continue in my covenant,

and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. - Heb 8:9b

So, back to the question: has God rejected his people? Let me allow Paul to answer that question in Romans 11: I ask, then, hhas God rejected his people? By no means! For iI myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,1 a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 jGod has not rejected his people whom he kforeknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 l“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? m“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is na remnant, chosen by grace. - Rom 11:1-5

Paul is saying that there are some believers. They were not saved by the Old Covenant, but by God’s gracious choice. This is why the next verse in Romans 11 says 6 oBut if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Rom 11:6

So, the main problem is that the people do not continue in the covenant with God. The secondary problem is that there are a small number of true believers among them that Paul calls the remnant. So you have this group called God’s people that is a mixed bag of unbelievers and believers, yet every male Israelite whether a believer or an unbeliever carries the sign of the covenant which is circumcision. The Old Covenant does not have the power of salvation. 

That’s the problem in the Old Covenant. That’s also probably my longest first point ever, but there are only two points and the second is shorter:). Now we can look at the promise of the New Covenant. 

1. The Promise of the New Covenant. 

Here is where we get to Jeremiah 31: Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make pa new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when qI took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, rthough I was their husband, declares the LORD. - Jer 31:31,32

So what is new about this New Covenant. This covenant will reach the heart. Do you ever think about how the laws of the Old Covenant were written on stone tablets? That’s a perfect picture of our hearts. Stone. But in verse 33 God says that there is coming a day when the law will not be written on stone tablets, but on our very hearts. The laws given in the Old Covenant were like rules we give to children. This is why Galatians 3:24 says 24 So then, rthe law was our sguardian (or tutor) until Christ came,- Gal 3:24 They are good and meant for their flourishing, but at the end of the day, our rules as good as they are, are external. When I gave my oldest an iphone, I restricted it severely, and I gave him every rule I could think of for his flourishing, but you know what I didn’t think to tell him? Don’t go into your uncles phone, steal Eli Manning’s phone number, and start texting him. Didn’t anticipate that one. The law was good and meant for our flourishing, but laws are insufficient if they remain external. But God says through Jeremiah that one day he is brining a covenant that changes our hearts and he does so in Jesus Christ. 

Jesus came under the law. Tempted to sin in every way as we are, but was the only one who could ever truly remain faithful. Because he was conceived by the Spirit, his heart was not corrupted. But instead of reaping all the blessings that are promised in the law for this perfect life, he willingly took on all the curses on the cross. He did so so the curse that all of us deserve for our unfaithfulness toward God could be lifted. And not just lifted, but reversed. Jesus took the wrath of God on the cross and all those who would put their faith in him are lavished with the blessings he earned. We are seen by God as perfect and righteous as Jesus himself. 

But the New Covenant doesn’t stop there. Jesus resurrects declaring his victory over death, he ascends physically to the very throne, and sends his Holy Spirit into our hearts. So Jesus not only accomplishes what we never could, but then gives us a heart to continue. The main problem has been fixed! And in this covenant, we see the character of God even more fully revealed. 

I think it’s interesting to go back to the covenant that God made with Abraham and see again that it wasn’t that Jesus was an afterthought in God’s failed plan. Jesus was always the plan. In Genesis 15 when God made his Covenant with Abraham, God commanded Abraham to cut up animals and make a path with one half of the animals on the left side of the path and the other side of the animal on the right side of the path. This was common practice back then and both parties would walk through the path declaring may the same thing happen to my body if I do not uphold the terms of the covenant made. But, right before they ratified this covenant, God caused Abraham to fall asleep and God walked the path alone. 

An RTS Old Testament scholar and good friend, Dr. Nicolas Reid writes this in the book Covenant Theology, “In Genesis 15 the Lord is taking all the obligations on himself. May he be cursed; may he die if the covenant is violated. As the New Testament teaches, the unthinkable happened at Calvary, when God was cursed and died for his people.” 

Dr. Scott Swain says that in the New Covenant, the Ten Commandments become a promise. “You WILL love the Lord your God, you WILL not worship idols, you WILL take my Name in holiness.” The New Covenant in Jesus Christ ceases to just be external rules and instead becomes the very longing of our hearts. This is what Jeremiah means when he says 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ vfor they shall all know me, wfrom the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For xI will forgive their iniquity, and yI will remember their sin no more.” - Jer 31:34 This isn’t saying that we won’t need any teaching in our lives, it’s saying that we won’t need the type of teaching that says “Know the Lord!” because we will already know him. 

So, a logical question then is this: How were believers in the Old Covenant saved? The answer is by Jesus. Paul says that the people of God in the Old Covenant were those who were physical descendants of Abraham, but in the New Covenant the people of God are those who share Abraham’s faith. Hebrews 11 talks about all the believers in the Old Covenant and how their defining mark was faith. And then the author names all the great men and women in the Old Testament. They were different because they knew the blood of bulls and goats could not save them, but the sacrifice was pointing forward to someone who could. This is why the author of Hebrews wrote:  24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, srefused to be called the son of Pharaoh’sdaughter, 25 tchoosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy uthefleeting pleasures of sin. 26 vHe considered the reproach of Christ (or for the sake of Christ) greater wealth than thet reasures of Egypt, for he was looking to wthe reward. - Heb 11:24-26 Moses lived in the Old Covenant, but was saved by his faith in the New Covenant that had yet to fully arrive. 

Paul and the author of Hebrews refers to the law as a shadow, but the substance is Christ. Imagine if we are here right now and the room goes dark, but the window behind me got so bright that all you could make out was my outline, the shadow I cast. That’s how Old Covenant believers were saved. They couldn’t see the substance of the shadow clearly, but they knew the shadow had a substance and that substance we know is Jesus. The believers didn’t see this because they were wiser or more moral, but going back to the words of Paul, God had chosen them to see it. So, believers in the Old Covenant were saved by Jesus and his New Covenant.

And here’s why I’m no longer Presbyterian. Even though the smartest and godliest theological influences I have had in my life are generally Presbyterians…I mean, I’m quoting five in this sermon alone… I can’t get around the sign of baptism in the New Covenant. Remember, in the Old Covenant, the secondary problem was that you had all these people with the sign of the covenant (circumcision), but they aren’t true believers. In the Old Covenant, all you had to do to be a part of the people of God was be a physical descendant of Abraham. That’s it. So all you had to do to be in was be born and the sign was given to you at that time. 

Again, in the New Covenant those who are a part of the people of God are not just the physical descendants of Abraham, but those who share Abraham’s faith. So, when do you become a part of God’s people? No longer by being born, but by being reborn through faith. And the sign, which is now baptism, is applied at that new entry point. At that new birth. It just seems so clear to me. There is more continuity this way between the covenants. Staying Presbyterian would have been easier for the family I grew up in and it certainly would have been a much better financial decision for me, but I just can’t get around the fact that if we were to baptize babies, we are giving the sign of membership to unbelievers and recreating the very problem in the Old Covenant. I tell my Presbyterian friends that I’m just more Reformed than they are. They stopped at baptism and we kept on reforming. By the way, don’t say that to anyone unless they are good friends. It really makes them mad:) 

Conclusion:

Ok, as I said, a lot of thinking this week. But let’s finish with our hearts. Let’s look at the length God has gone to make us his people and transform our hearts. Nothing else in our lives can provide that kind of joy and satisfaction, but Jesus. Tim Keller likens it to living in a park. A few years ago, we were walking around Lake Eola and there were homeless people living there and my daughter was very concerned for them. They weren’t clean. They didn’t look particularly happy. Lake Eola is a great place to visit and walk and read, but it’s not a good place to make our home. It can’t bear that weight. And if people make it their home, it actually makes it a pretty gross place. 

When we look to our jobs or our houses or our families or our prospect of family for our ultimate joy and satisfaction, we are asking more of those good things than they can bear. When we ask them to bear that weight, we are asking them to save us. But those things can’t bear the longings of our souls. If we look to those things for our ultimate satisfaction, we are living in a type of Narnia that is always winter and never Christmas. We will grow colder and experience less real joy. 

The people in the Old Covenant did not continue because their hearts weren’t captivated, but the Spirit of Jesus Christ is in our hearts so that we will continue and continue with great joy. Only he can give us what our souls’ long for and we have a rich, intimate relationship with him. To quote one more awesome Presbyterian, Dr. Michael Allen, “No one gets married for the wedding. You get married for the marriage.”

Let’s cultivate that. Let’s enjoy what has been given to us through prayer, worship, communion, and all the other Christian practices we are given because we know that it can never be taken away because it has been sealed with the very blood of Jesus.